Pope, Castro set stage for 1997 Havana visit

ARTURO MARI / Associated Press

ROME -- Pope John Paul II hosted President Fidel Castro for a historic but decidedly low-key audience Tuesday in which the pontiff asked Castro to seek ``reconciliation'' for all Cubans -- ``inside the island and outside.''

The fiercely anti-communist pontiff officially accepted Castro's invitation to visit the last Western communist nation and set next year as a target despite signs of Vatican frustration with talks on the trip.

The Jesuit-educated Castro seemed in good spirits as he toured the Sistine Chapel after the papal audience and later had lunch with five cardinals who have visited Cuba as bilateral relations improved in the past few years.

``Fidel in the Vatican. Who would have thought it?'' said a Cuban journalist working for a government that once expelled priests, confiscated church properties and proclaimed itself officially atheist.

But the Vatican clearly went out of its way to prevent the audience from turning into a propaganda boon for Castro, at the last minute canceling plans to allow independent reporters into parts of the meeting.

Only Vatican and Cuban TV were allowed to film Castro's arrival at the Vatican, his handshake with the pope at the door to John Paul's private library and the start of their chat across a plain wood writing table.

Protocol for the meeting was equal to any personal audience, not an official state visit, and the two men spoke in Spanish for 35 minutes, just a tad over regulation Vatican length for VIP visitors.

Neither man made public statements, but Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls later briefed journalists on talks he described as ``open.''

Topics of discussion

The two men discussed ``the normalization of conditions for the Cuban church and the general role of the faithful in national life,'' Navarro-Valls said. The church is seeking recognition of its right to speak on social issues, more visas for foreign priests and improved access to the mass media.

But Navarro-Valls indicated the pontiff did not make a major issue of Cuba's human rights situation. ``You would not be wrong to assume'' the issue was discussed, he said in reply to a question.

As for the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, which the pope has criticized in the past, Navarro-Valls indicated it did not come up. The pope's ``position on that is well known,'' he said.

Castro later met with Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, No. 2 in the Vatican, to ``go deeper'' into issues including ``the evolution of Cuban society [and] some aspects relating to national reconciliation,'' the spokesman added.

Asked who should be reconciled, Navarro-Valls stunned reporters: ``The need for national reconciliation [is] for everyone, all Cubans. Cubans inside the island and outside the island,'' he said.

A Vatican official later told The Herald that the pope himself ``asked Castro to seek national reconciliation. This is a theme that is very important for us because it is important to the Cuban church.''

Dialogue encouraged

The statement echoed the 1993 call by Cuban bishops for a ``national dialogue'' between Castro and critics, inside the island and in exile, leading to ``national reconciliation.'' The Cuban church offered itself as mediator of the dialogue, but Castro has never reacted officially to the offer.

Stripping away the heavily veiled language of the Vatican, the pope was in effect endorsing the Cuban bishops' call, Vatican analysts said. The pontiff backed similar talks in his native Poland, among Solidarity, the Communist government and other factions, in the late 1980s.

Castro used the audience to officially invite the pontiff to visit Cuba -- the only major Latin American nation John Paul has not visited in 18 years as pope -- and as he left, told the pontiff: ``I hope to see you in Cuba soon.''

Details of visit

Navarro-Valls said both sides had agreed to try to arrange the visit for some time in 1997 -- but there were signs the Vatican was frustrated with the lack of progress in negotiations over the exact details of the visit.

The talks covered everything from the pope's permission to meet with anti-Castro dissidents to who will bear the costs -- the host country usually pays for papal visits, but Cuba has said it cannot afford it -- and even who will provide the buses and gasoline needed to transport Cuban Catholics to Mass.

One Vatican official said Castro ``had answered `yes, but,' '' to each of the requests put to him by Archbishop Jean Luis Tauran, the Vatican's foreign minister, during a meeting last month in Havana.

``They do not refuse our requests, but all they do is promise to listen,'' said another Vatican official, adding that he believes Castro will personally make even the most minute decisions on the papal visit.

The Vatican believes that while Castro no doubt hopes to reap solid propaganda gains from the papal audience in Rome -- another step in Cuba's return to international society -- he is not equally enthusiastic about hosting John Paul.

``Having the pope on his own doorstep, with the possibility of being applauded, of saying anything he wants about the situation there, of calling for certain changes, that is harder for Fidel to accept,'' the official said.

``This is a very high risk for Castro,'' he said. The official's own estimates of the chances for a visit by the 76-year-old pontiff to Cuba: ``doubtful.''